This month National Geographic Traveler announced 2014′s must-see places in the annual Best of the World feature. From Argentina to Oz, the final lineup reflects what’s authentic, culturally rich, and sustainably minded. Discover what makes these destinations worthy of a visit—and how they ended up on the list.

National Geographic Traveler Magazine USA mediafire link

Rebooting the Family Vacation from National Geographic Traveler and Christopher Elliott.

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, nothing tickles the taste buds quite like barbecue. Go see why National Geographic named two Memphis barbecue establishments to their list of 10 Best BBQ Joints in America.

W St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA -- Late May to mid-July the skies above St. Petersburg’s Peter and Paul Fortress (resting place of the tsars, pictured here during White Nights) and Nevsky Prospekt (the city’s main thoroughfare) glow pale blue, pink, and peach well after midnight. on.natgeo.com/...

Town of Banff

ALBERTA, CANADA -- Over 40 species of dinosaurs have been discovered at the Dinosaur Provincial Park UNESCO World Heritage site, and their bones, teeth and fossils are scattered naturally among the eerie hoodoos (lifelike rock pinnacles, pictured here) in the park’s preserved areas. on.natgeo.com/...

Whitefish, MT

WHITEFISH, MONTANA -- The Big Sky brand of equestrian skijoring (derived from the Norwegian snörekjöring or “driving with ropes”) is wild, western, and guaranteed to get the adrenaline pumping. on.natgeo.com/...

Paris

PARIS -- Paris is at its most Parisian in winter. Without the crowds, there’s space to linger over a morning café crème and croissant at Le Bar du Marché and wander through the Louvre. on.natgeo.com/...

Ruaha National Park

RUAHA NATIONAL PARK -- Located southwest of Tanzania’s most famous safari destinations—the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater—7,809-square-mile Ruaha National Park is off the beaten adventure tour track, offering a quieter, wilder environment for exceptional game viewing and birding. on.natgeo.com/...

Belize City

BELIZE -- Belize’s three coral atolls—Glover's Reef (36 miles from the mainland), Lighthouse Reef (home to the rare red-footed booby), and Turneffe Islands (the largest and closest at only 25 miles off the coast)—offer exceptional beginner-to-expert sea kayaking and snorkeling along shallow reefs, plus secluded white-sand beaches and unspoiled nature reserves. on.natgeo.com/...

Belize City

Chances are, the world won’t end in December, and neither will the interest in the Maya’s culture sparked by apocalyptic interpretations of their calendar, says Antonio Beardall, a research assistant at Belize’s Institute of Archaeology. Read more http://www.chaacreek.com/belize-travel-blog/2012/11/port-of-call-belize-city/

BELIZE -- Belize’s three coral atolls—Glover's Reef (36 miles from the mainland), Lighthouse Reef (home to the rare red-footed booby), and Turneffe Islands (the largest and closest at only 25 miles off the coast)—offer exceptional beginner-to-expert sea kayaking and snorkeling along shallow reefs, plus secluded white-sand beaches and unspoiled nature reserves.

京都市 (Kyoto)

KYOTO, JAPAN -- The city is about to get an influx of luxury hotels, making room for more tourists, but for now a golden-hour walk along the Kamo riverbank still reveals the gentleness and gracefulness of Japan’s ancient capital, as does a self-guided tour of the 1.1-mile canalside Philosopher’s Path in the Higashiyama neighborhood. on.natgeo.com/...

Downtown Memphis

MEMPHIS -- Memphis claims one of the largest urban parks in the country: the 4,500-acre Shelby Farms Park, with 6.5 miles of urban trails and a working farm. on.natgeo.com/...

Urban Park

I LOVE MEMPHIS, BEEN THERE MANY TIMES ESPECIALLY BEALLE ST & MEMPHIS IN MAY MEMPHIS -- Memphis claims one of the largest urban parks in the country: the 4,500-acre Shelby Farms Park, with 6.5 miles of urban trails and a working farm. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq

St. Augustine, FL

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA -- St. George Street, St. Augustine’s main drag, may have become overly touristy and crowded with T-shirt emporiums and fudge shops, but the side streets still harbor scrubby garden courtyards and off-the-radar bars, such as the 130-year-old Mill Top Tavern, where you can imagine what Old Florida was like before it became the Sunshine State. on.natgeo.com/...

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA -- St. George Street, St. Augustine’s main drag, may have become overly touristy and crowded with T-shirt emporiums and fudge shops, but the side streets still harbor scrubby garden courtyards and off-the-radar bars, such as the 130-year-old Mill Top Tavern, where you can imagine what Old Florida was like before it became the Sunshine State. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq This is where I live, St Augustine, Florida

MISSOURI RIVER BREAKS -- Bighorn sheep and elk sip from the river while antelope scamper. Eagles scream, coyotes sing, and prairie dogs do that funky dance. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq Took a canoe trip through the breaks

Bodø

BODØ, NORWAY -- Many visitors come here for the unique Arctic light, whether the soft pastels of winter that crescendo in a display of aurora borealis or the orange glow of summer’s midnight sun. on.natgeo.com/...

Soft Pastel

BODØ, NORWAY -- Many visitors come here for the unique Arctic light, whether the soft pastels of winter that crescendo in a display of aurora borealis or the orange glow of summer’s midnight sun. on.natgeo.com/...

Grenada

GRENADA -- It’s one of the last truly Caribbean islands, not yet overwhelmed by resorts and cruise ship crowds. The charm of this lush island lies beyond the white-sand beach of Grand Anse and its string of hotels. on.natgeo.com/...

My fishin spot

GRENADA -- It’s one of the last truly Caribbean islands, not yet overwhelmed by resorts and cruise ship crowds. The charm of this lush island lies beyond the white-sand beach of Grand Anse and its string of hotels. on.natgeo.com/...

Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Θεσσαλονίκης (SKG) Μακεδονία

THESSALONIKI -- Tucked between relics of Byzantine and Ottoman antiquity are art galleries, bohemian nightclubs, and culinary hot spots, all part of a grassroots vision turned reality by Thessaloniki’s large (about 50 percent of the population) do-it-yourself youth culture. on.natgeo.com/...

Northern Greece, Icons Greece, Intelligence Travel

Location: Essaouira, Morocco Icons are, for the uninitiated (that means most of us), an encounter with the unknown: religious paintings on wooden panels of great antiquity. For others, they take on great spiritual significance. And there’s no better place to see them than Thessaloniki in northern Greece. James Conaway

Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY -- Just a couple hours north of New York City, this is a land of mom-and-pop shops, “u-pick” wildflower fields, and organic farm stands where “chain” is a four-letter word. on.natgeo.com/...

an exquisitely crafted monumental sculpture with a mobile musical core. The viewer can bang a hammer on each of the metal pieces of the sculpture to hear different music like tones just like Virginia Overton piece.

HUDSON VALLEY -- Just a couple hours north of New York City, this is a land of mom-and-pop shops, “u-pick” wildflower fields, and organic farm stands where “chain” is a four-letter word. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq

Cape Breton Island

CAPE BRETON -- One-fifth of Cape Breton is preserved as a national park, laced by 25 hiking paths and looped by the Cabot Trail, a 186-mile driving route frequently ranked among the world’s most spectacular. on.natgeo.com/...

Quito

QUITO -- The Spanish colonial UNESCO World Heritage site often gets short shrift, with many travelers treating the city as a stopover en route to the Galapagos, but Quito deserves main-event status. on.natgeo.com/...

QUITO -- The Spanish colonial UNESCO World Heritage site often gets short shrift, with many travelers treating the city as a stopover en route to the Galapagos, but Quito deserves main-event status. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq Our family loved our tour there.

QUITO -- The Spanish colonial UNESCO World Heritage site often gets short shrift, with many travelers treating the city as a stopover en route to the Galapagos, but Quito, Ecuador deserves main-event status. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq

Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Emilia Romagna

Ravenna, Italy was the seat of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and then of Byzantine Italy until the 8th century. Ravenna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its preservation of a monumental religious complex from the Paleochristian epoch, extremely important in terms both artistic and historic. Seven of Ravenna’s eight buildings from the 5th and 6th centuries are spectacularly decorated with examples of this ancient art. #heritage #culture

MARSEILLE, FRANCE -- For all the new energy, Marseille’s old pleasures remain as alluring as ever: a stroll along the narrow lanes of the Panier Quarter, the lusty aromas of a good bouillabaisse, a boat ride into the fjordlike inlets called calanques. on.natgeo.com/...

Derawan Island

DERAWAN ISLANDS -- After you get up and watch sunrise from your stilt-house balcony, you jump into tranquil and crystal-clean turquoise water to hang out with as many turtles as you can imagine and then snorkel around breathtaking reefs. on.natgeo.com/...

Bolaven Cafes

BOLAVEN PLATEAU -- Slowly making its way onto coffee connoisseurs’ itineraries, the Bolaven Plateau is blessed with a cool climate, regular rainfall, and abundant nutrients, and produces the major share of the burgeoning Laotian coffee crop. on.natgeo.com/...

BOLAVEN PLATEAU -- Slowly making its way onto coffee connoisseurs’ itineraries, the Bolaven Plateau is blessed with a cool climate, regular rainfall, and abundant nutrients, and produces the major share of the burgeoning Laotian coffee crop.

Vaduz

LIECHTENSTEIN -- This patch of Alpine meadows, craggy peaks, and vineyards finds itself wedged between Austria and Switzerland. What it lacks in size, Liechtenstein makes up for with a mighty landscape that swoops up from the marshy green banks of the Rhine into the cloud-kissed Alps. on.natgeo.com/...

This patch of Alpine meadows, craggy peaks, and vineyards finds itself wedged between Austria and Switzerland. What it lacks in size but makes up for it with a mighty landscape that swoops up from the marshy green banks of the Rhine into the cloud-kissed Alps. LIECHTENSTEIN.(http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq)

Cacao Trail - The best time to go to the Pacific coast is December to April (warm temperatures and sporadic rain). June to September (sunny and clear) is better for visiting the highlands. In the Amazonian jungle, it’s warm, humid, and rainy year-round; however, rains typically aren’t as heavy August to September and December to February. on.natgeo.com/...

Cacao Trail - The best time to go to the Pacific coast is December to April (warm temperatures and sporadic rain). June to September (sunny and clear) is better for visiting the highlands. In the Amazonian jungle, it’s warm, humid, and rainy year-round; however, rains typically aren’t as heavy August to September and December to February. on.natgeo.com/...

Arbil Airport

ARBIL, IRAQ -- One of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, Arbil will make you forget everything you’ve heard about Iraq. The political capital of Kurdistan in northern Iraq is largely a world apart from the strife to its south. on.natgeo.com/...

John Muir Country Park

JOHN MUIR WAY -- The John Muir Way opens in 2014. The 105-mile path sets out from Dunbar, Muir’s birthplace, and follows the coast west, passing natural wonders such as North Berwick Law, a volcanic remnant jutting abruptly out of the earth, and Loch Lomond, the largest freshwater lake (by surface area) in Britain. The Highlands views—enveloping visitors in vast lonesome moors, scraggly hills, and turbulent, dramatic skies—are the Scotland you see in movies. on.natgeo.com/...

JOHN MUIR WAY -- The John Muir Way opens in 2014. The 105-mile path sets out from Dunbar, Muir’s birthplace, and follows the coast west, passing natural wonders such as North Berwick Law, a volcanic remnant jutting abruptly out of the earth, and Loch Lomond, the largest freshwater lake (by surface area) in Britain. The Highlands views—enveloping visitors in vast lonesome moors, scraggly hills, and turbulent, dramatic skies—are the Scotland you see in movies. on.natgeo.com/...

Сочи / Sochi

SOCHI, RUSSIA -- Standing at the icy, windswept peak of the new Rosa Khutor resort, home of the downhill and slalom competitions, skiers gape at 360-degree views of the jagged black mountains of Sochi National Park, a haven for bears, wolves, deer, and the recently reintroduced Persian leopard. on.natgeo.com/...

SOCHI, RUSSIA -- Standing at the icy, windswept peak of the new Rosa Khutor resort, home of the downhill and slalom competitions, skiers gape at 360-degree views of the jagged black mountains of Sochi National Park, a haven for bears, wolves, deer, and the recently reintroduced Persian leopard. on.natgeo.com/...

Sarajevo

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA -- Thick coffee cooked in copper pots perfumes the air in Bašcˇaršija, the Ottoman-era bazaar. Silversmiths and rug merchants haggle and banter on the cobbled streets. Secessionist buildings, erected during the archduke’s empire, sit alongside minarets punctuating the skyline. And obelisk Muslim headstones lean this way and that on patches of grass scattered between the oldest mahalas (neighborhoods). on.natgeo.com/...

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA -- Thick coffee cooked in copper pots perfumes the air in Bašcˇaršija, the Ottoman-era bazaar. Silversmiths and rug merchants haggle and banter on the cobbled streets. Secessionist buildings, erected during the archduke’s empire, sit alongside minarets punctuating the skyline. And obelisk Muslim headstones lean this way and that on patches of grass scattered between the oldest mahalas (neighborhoods). on.natgeo.com/...

I loved the coffee, and I loved the whole coffee ritual. We would sit around after supper and grind the coffee in a manual, hand-held grinder that we passed among us. Yummy! And I loved the language.

Alberobello

PUGLIA, ITALY -- Alberobello in southern Puglia is the city of fanciful trulli, which are clustered in a settlement dating back to the mid-14th century. The fairytale landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site, includes several trulli restored as vacation rentals. on.natgeo.com/...

Been there! An amazing place! PUGLIA, ITALY -- Alberobello in southern Puglia is the city of fanciful trulli, which are clustered in a settlement dating back to the mid-14th century. The fairytale landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site, includes several trulli restored as vacation rentals. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq

Nyungwe Forest

NYUNGWE FOREST NATIONAL PARK --Chimps are the star attraction in Nyungwe, though they’re not as readily watchable as the famed “in the mist” mountain gorillas farther north in Virunga National Park. Far easier to view are colobus monkeys. on.natgeo.com/...

Nantes

NANTES, FRANCE -- Pervaded by a spirit of creativity, Nantes has dreamed up a range of resourceful ideas—from mechanical elephants and art walks to a 15th-century castle turned history museum and a warehouse converted into a hammam. on.natgeo.com/...

NANTES, FRANCE -- Pervaded by a spirit of creativity, Nantes has dreamed up a range of resourceful ideasfrom mechanical elephants and art walks to a 15th-century castle turned history museum and a warehouse converted into a hammam. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq #france #travel #nantes

New Orleans City Park

NEW ORLEANS -- Visit Louisiana’s filigreed, fleur-de-lis city twice or 20 times, and the scent will be as unchanging as the air is unmoving: a humid mix of confederate jasmine and fried shrimp, diesel fuel and desire. on.natgeo.com/...

Ornate Shotgun Houses in New Orleans.

Back to The Other Crescent City someday

Go TO: NEW ORLEANS -- Visit Louisiana’s filigreed, fleur-de-lis city twice or 20 times, and the scent will be as unchanging as the air is unmoving: a humid mix of confederate jasmine and fried shrimp, diesel fuel and desire. http://on.natgeo.com/1eauKbq